Speaking Part 3: The 6-Year-Old Strategy

To score highly in Part 3 of the Speaking exam, you will need to provide well-developed, thoughtful answers. A good strategy for achieving this is to get in the mind of an 6-year old child and always be asking the question: why?

For example:

Do you think it’s more important to earn a high salary or to love your job?

Personally, I believe that being passionate about your work is more important than getting a good wage (why?). I think I feel this way because of the importance I place on happiness, and you know what they say: ‘money can’t buy you happiness’. Rather, I believe that happiness comes from fulfilling your passions (why?).Sure, money can put a nice car in your drive, or the latest iPhone in your pocket, and I won’t deny that these purchases can make you happy. But this joy is temporary, fleeting, whilst the happiness that comes from doing the things you love is much longer-lasting.

Do you think more and more people will work from home in the future?

Thanks to the internet, a huge number of things in the world have changed, are still changing in fact, and the way we work is certainly one of them (why?).The internet has enabled us to make contact with people on the other side of the planet without ever having to leave our homes. Some people have been able to turn this globalisation to their financial advantage, making money in a variety of ways; consulting, programming, teaching. (why?)The skills they have may not be easily accessible to people in other parts of the world, and this means their competition is low and they can dominate the market, instead of fighting for work in their local area. It is mainly due to this reason that I believe the rate of people working from home will not slow down any time soon.